BENGALURU: In a big relief to former minister G Janardhana Reddy, the High Court on Monday set aside the orders of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to attach his properties with regard to illegal mining.
With this, attached properties worth `884 crore will be released. The properties belong to Reddy, his wife Lakshmi Aruna and two mining companies owned by them—Obalapuram Mining Company Limited and Bramhani Industries Limited.
A division bench allowed the pleas filed by Reddy and others challenging the ED. The bench declared that ED’s proceedings were without jurisdiction.
Reddy and others were booked under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, Forest (Conservation) Act, IPC, and Prevention of Corruption Act.
All these offences were alleged to have been committed during a period that ended in July 2007. But these Acts were included under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, only with effect from June 1, 2009. Hence, the Reddys contended that the PML Act was not applicable to them.